Sant'Anastasia, Verona

The church of San Pietro da Verona in Santa Anastasia, better known as the basilica of Santa Anastasia, is an important Catholic place of worship that stands in the heart of the historic center of Verona; it is located at the end of the decumanus maximus of the city in Roman times, near the point where the wide meander of the Adige river is crossed by the Ponte Pietra, where the two main traffic routes of the city, road and river, gravitate. It is the largest, most solemn and representative church in Verona, a reflection of a lively moment in the city's life, when the expansion and consolidation of political and economic institutions allowed the community, in synergy with the Scaliger rule, the Dominican clergy and the Castelbarco family, to make a considerable financial effort to build this important temple, a symbol of their power.

The church represented the most important Gothic period for Verona. In the years immediately following its construction, it became a point of reference on which the designs of several other religious buildings were based, especially thanks to some innovations that St. Anastasia introduced into the plan, with the development of a wide transept and the articulation of the apsidal area into four chapels on either side of the presbytery, where the high altar is located, to the wall structure entirely in brick and to the new type of bell tower. The façade is unfinished, except for a majestic Gothic mullioned doorway that leads to a large interior divided into three naves by monumental cylindrical columns. On either side of the two naves are a series of chapels and numerous altars, the most famous of which is the Fregoso altar by Danese Cattaneo, praised by Giorgio Vasari. In addition, it is possible to admire paintings and frescoes by famous masters of Veronese painting and beyond, such as Pisanello, Altichiero, Liberale da Verona, Stefano da Zevio, Nicolò Giolfino, Giovan Francesco Caroto, Felice Brusasorzi, Francesco Morone, Michele da Verona and Lorenzo Veneziano.

The beginning of its construction dates back to 1260, when the Dominican friars, who lived outside the walls of the city, received from the Bishop of Verona, Manfredo Roberti, the land on which to build the new church and convent. The construction of the great building began in 1290 and it took a very long time: it can be said that it was finished only in the 1440s, although the basic structures were already finished in the third decade of the previous century. The basilica was consecrated on October 22, 1471 by Cardinal and Bishop of Verona Giovanni Michiel, but minor works continued for more than two centuries, never reaching the completion of the main elevation. When the Dominican Order was suppressed in 1807, the temple was entrusted to the secular clergy, while the adjacent convent, now abandoned, later became the site of the Istituto Maffei.

The basilica is the seat of a parish included in the vicariate of the center of Verona.